Testimonials

Mike Allison

“I think your preparation, and the interview with me were very thorough and from what I can tall contributed to advancing the discussion in important and meaningful ways. Your facilitation of the meeting was organized, graceful and wonderfully personal – it felt as though the meeting mattered to you, and that the contributions of each of us were important. Wonderful work.”

Louise Dunlap

“It’s a delight to work with Diana Lee. To each challenge she brings ideas and experience plus a positive energy rooted in a realistic take on the situation. I’ve organized one workshop with her and am planning another. It’s wonderful to be able to share this work with someone whose ideas go way beyond “the box” and who I know will follow through. I also appreciate Diana’s “reach”—her many personal and professional connections in the worlds of community development and healing—and her courage in taking on the work she does in the world.”

Carmen Velasquez

“I have truly enjoyed assisting you over the past few years. The work you do with various communities across the nation always seems to have a deep and meaningful purpose. Your resolution approach with diverse groups of people is inspiring. I have learned a lot from the work you do and continue to learn from your thoughtful and kind point of view. And I very much appreciate that although I work with you as a virtual administrative assistant, you have always valued my opinion. I look forward to new projects and many more rewarding experiences assisting you virtually with your consultant work.”

Margi Clarke

“Diana Marie is a creative, warm and effective facilitator and guide. She did a great workshop for our group incorporating personal wellness, getting-to-know-you activities, music and creativity in a short and powerful format that helped people make connections and make commitments to make positive changes in our lives. Plus, she is always generous with her time and ideas. I really appreciate her ethic and her commitment to excellence.”

Amanda Berger

“Diana’s facilitation, ability to read and intuit a group and to work with the complexities of the Rubicon engagement, staff and issues were outstanding. It was a joy to co-facilitate with you and I also learned about some wonderful exercises from you that touched on facilitation, equity and power sharing issues. Diana’s expertise and support of me personally as I managed my first large contract were instrumental–you were calm, always kind and available to support me and the team when we ran into rough patches. Your work on pulling together the curriculum, managing the logistics and also supporting the development of the evaluation was invaluable. You also worked much more hours than expected, especially towards the end and helped us finish the project.”

Robert W. Surber

“I had the opportunity to partner with Diane Marie in a consulting project in San Francisco with a health related agency that was fraught with interpersonal struggles among staff and leadership. Diane Marie’s clear thinking, consistent compassion, and steady hand helped the consultant team devise and implement a process that helped heal an organization so that it could better achieve its mission of healing others.”

Kara Keeling

“I have worked with Diana Marie Lee for the past three years on the Board of Directors of the Highlander Center in New Market, TN. During that time, I have come to know Diana as a thoughtful and brave leader, an imaginative problem-solver, and a passionate advocate for sustainable models of social justice organizing. I believe that her ideas are visionary responses to the challenges of today and make necessary contributions to widespread, ongoing efforts to bring into being the egalitarian world for which we yearn and that we know is possible. I recommend her highly.”

Gino Pastori-Ng and Amanda Greene

“Diana is incredibly knowledgeable and has an abundance of gratitude and optimism. Her work is grounded in passion and her guidance was critical to the development of our organization’s long term vision. She is highly skilled at communicating complex ideas in a comprehensible way that leads to direct action. I would highly recommend working with Diana if you have the opportunity.” (Gino Pastori-Ng)

“I had the great pleasure of working with Diana this year. She facilitated a day-long retreat for us at Youth SEED, a youth leadership organization based in Oakland, Ca. Her warmth and presence are only matched to her professionalism and dedication. She worked with us to co-develop an agenda that would best serve our need while demonstrating vast experience and knowledge. She is a true inspiration to work with, and added great value to our organization. I can, in good faith, highly recommend her to whatever project or endeavor one might be engaged in. She is a true asset.”

Ajax Greene

“Diana is passionate, smart and skillful in her work and life. She cares very deeply about achieving positive outcomes for her clients. In our time working together, she has done the deep inner work that will allow her vision of what the world can be shine through. Diana is a true leader who can help us thrive through 2012 and beyond.”

Jocelyn Corbett

“You have done so and more with your work on creating the Inclusion Challenge Peer Exchange, providing feedback on our inclusive economy metric set, and now creating a diversity, equity and inclusion training for our B Local leaders. The Peer Exchange was a critical project within the B Corp Inclusion Challenge because it created a space for B Corps participating in the Challenge to do some of the tremendously important work “below the green line”, which (I’ve learned from you) is as important – if not more – as the structural work in getting diversity, equity and inclusion work to be institutionalized within a company.

Every Peer Exchange group that began completed the program, and we received very positive feedback on the program in improving participants’ personal growth and understanding of diversity and inclusion; supporting participants’ colleagues’ growth and understanding of diversity and inclusion; and better equipping Challenge participants to meet their business’s inclusion challenge goals. The deep nature of the program was attractive to our funders, and was so successful that we intend to invest greater resources in adapting it for a wider audience and aim to increase participation threefold.

In addition to positive results, working with you has been one of the most positive working relationships of external consultants I have had to date. You are extremely professional, reliable, and timely in your work. You are generous and gracious – providing discounts and modifying your work to meet our budget.”

Millie Buchanan

“Diana and I have served together for several years on the board of the Highlander Research and Education Center in Eastern Tennessee. Diana’s leadership and participation have been crucial to helping us envision a way forward to a promising future. In addition to normal board duties, she has donated her professional skills as we think about our work in a changing world. She brings a commitment to doing her share and more; grace in working across ethnic, economic and power divides; perseverance in pursuing difficult subjects in ways that allow and promote healing; and flashes of humor and a sense of fun and celebration at just the times they are most valuable.”

Melissa Johnson Hewitt

“I have known Diana for over 5 years and admired her work from several capacities. I admired her much needed work at NCDI, learned from her involvement with a national nonprofit group, and have recently been fortunate to have her as my personal/professional coach through a women of color leadership network. Diana has always been a kind, gentle heart with deep intuition, compassion, and knowing. She is currently my coach in a circle of 5 other women and I appreciate and thank her for the expertise, delicate leadership, and clear foresight she has in how she works with me and the group to ask the right question, play the right song, or touch us in just the right way. My year is already looking brighter because of having Diana in my life. She is a phenomenal woman!”

Miho Kim

“Diana Marie was the central person behind a community consultant training institute that i enrolled in. the program was highly regarded nationally and i could easily see why. Diana Marie’s professional integrity, deep commitment to social justice, peace and well-being, and versatile skillsets consolidated the training institute into a powerhouse of dynamic, engaged learning that really delivered as well as cultivated & deepened relationships and community of practitioners. She set the tone for the institute as a truly respectful, fun, and safe learning space for all participants and unlocked the power and brilliance of all the wisdom various trainers had to offer in a seamless way. Having seen her gifts in action and having benefited from it directly, I feel very fortunate and now that I am in a leadership position for my own agency, I would love the opportunity to partner with someone like her so our program can thrive and develop the kind of reputation that that institute did.”

Brigette M. Rouson

“Sweet Livity, and specifically Diana, gave me a fresh outlook, a clear heart, and authentic strength to step into my greatness. When I signed on for wellness coaching from Diana, my starting point was simply a desire to be more effective in my work life and community leadership. Little did I know that I would be facing unprecedented challenges in the months that followed. Diana offered useful practices and ways to reframe my circumstances — as well as possibilities. As a result, I summoned courage that I didn’t realize was there, and wisdom that recalled the ancestors, and more than survived. I began to thrive.”

Nicole Notario-Risk

“I have worked with Diana Marie on two occasions. First, as a participant in a cultural competency workshop and second as a fellow team member of a community change initiative. Diana Marie brings an authenticity and passion to her work that allows you to connect with her instantly. She is a skilled facilitator, bringing warmth and professionalism to all of her projects. A joy to work with!”

Susan Sachs

“Diana Marie Lee is an extraordinary facilitator of healing, holistic group and individual processes. During my work with her in North Carolina in 2005-07 as a co-facilitator, she exhibited a calm, grounded, healing presence in her work with nonprofit leaders from across the state and her peers. Diana Marie is an intuitive and gifted teacher, healer and facilitator. It has been my honor and blessing to work with and learn from her.”

Mike Allison

“I think your preparation, and the interview with me were very thorough and from what I can tall contributed to advancing the discussion in important and meaningful ways. Your facilitation of the meeting was organized, graceful and wonderfully personal – it felt as though the meeting mattered to you, and that the contributions of each of us were important. Wonderful work.”

Monika K. Moss

“Diana Marie is an outstanding facilitator, coach and person. Her integrity is beyond reproach and the way she honors those around her both clients and colleagues is a great example for us all. Her commitment is without questions. I would hire her to support me and/or my clients in a heartbeat. We have worked together on several projects through our membership in the Alliance for Nonprofit Management.”

Patricia St. Onge

“Diana is a powerful healer and consultant. I enthusiastically recommend her. I’ve worked with her on several projects, with nonprofits, public agencies and community groups. In every situation, she has a profound impact on both the groups and individuals within the groups. She creates transformative change processes that encourage people to bring their full selves to the work and invites them to grapple with the hard questions, both in their personal work styles and in the systems in which they are engaged. She brings a healing approach, marked by her warmth and generosity of spirit. She reminds people and groups of their best selves and encourages them to embody it. She actively engages people in articulating what makes them come alive. They and their organizations are better for it. She is a smart, caring and heart-filled facilitator, coach and guide through change processes. I can’t say enough how much I appreciate her and her work. She is building Sweet Livity with integrity, thoughtfulness, heart-fulness and fun!”

Adrian Alberto Madriz

“The work you are doing with us at SMASH is always above and beyond what we could ever expect! The care and dedication you put into developing our Board and making sure that we have the necessary tools for success are greatly appreciated and put into practice every time we meet.”

Patricia St. Onge

“I thought the healing retreat was one of the more powerful group facilitation experiences I’ve had. I appreciate your capacity to hold the group, in a very loving way, to its commitment to personal and organizational healing. I loved the ways we, as a team, with your leadership, were able to read the group, and shift the agenda to increase our responsiveness to what was happening in the space. It felt like we clearly attended to the fullness of who they are, as women (body, mind, heart and spirit) and as organizational leaders. I loved that we incorporated fun and ceremony as part of that holistic approach.

The content that you brought was powerful; I still think about the three important elements to maintaining health and wellness; hydrating, getting enough sleep and reaching alpha state every day. It’s been so helpful in my own journey. I love that our work together feels so easeful; I appreciate the level of prep that you put into planning; it feels clear and balanced. I felt well informed, and welcome to add my own thinking to the process.”

Yvette Williams-Barr

“Ms. Lee has always sought out new and holistic approaches to living a mentally, and physically healthy life. I know this from first-hand experience as Ms. Lee has helped me to improve my mental spiritual health through meditation and prayer. She has always been a positive role model for myself and others that she has encountered. One thing that I can say that sets Ms. Lee a part from anyone else I know is that I have never heard her say anything negative. It bothered me so that I finally asked her about it, because although I desired to live like that I found myself always fussing or complaining. Ms., Lee shared with me the process that she underwent to reach this point in life and after practicing many of the same principles I can proudly say that I to can see only the good and I love it!”

Marcelle Miller

“Diana was a tremendous help in guiding us through the brainstorming + development of introducing inclusion to our workforce. She walked us through not only how to articulate a complex theme but also had a clear point of view on the best way to structure the content. She made herself available in order to fit our busy schedules + went above + beyond to thoroughly answer questions or concerns we had prior to our off-site. During the offsite, Diana stood out as an incredible public speaker; she was an engaging + entertaining story-teller that really inspired our group to open up + be vulnerable during our breakouts. We received raving feedback on how much everyone enjoyed hearing her speak + how impactful the entire activity was. This built our function’s credibility with the organization + initiated a focus organizationally in this area. I am so thankful for Diana’s support + assistance through this process + I look forward to the next time we get to work together!”

Stewart Hyland

“In my tenure as SAFE Program Director of One East Palo Alto, a Hewlett Foundation Neighborhood Improvement Initiative, I had the good luck to hire Diane to facilitate several neighbor trainings that built the very successful Building Block Club program which brought together African American, Latino and Pacific Islander residents to join together with each other and the East Palo Alto Police department. Diane’s facilitation encouraged the resident’s natural voice and helped me as a program director to hear their concerns and problem solving ideas. Sometimes the world is small in good ways that brings friends together. Small world brought Diane into my niece’s life when her special needs daughter needed an advocate to help her find the right school. Diane worked with the Oakland Public School district and brought my niece to a wonderfully supportive school in the Oakland Dimond district. My niece’s mother had planned to introduce us at a school function that I attended for her daughter. Diane and I had a good laugh and hug to find that once again we were making a positive difference together in our human family. That’s my testimony; I hope that you too have a small world that brings you to know Diane Lee too.”

Aleece Kelly

“Diana Marie developed a community capacity building plan for our organization. The plan was in depth and contextualized to meet the needs of our communities as well as our organizational culture. Diana Marie is extremely skilled in facilitation and in communicating complicated concepts. She turned non-believers in our organization to champions.”

Lee Werbel

“We are honored to provide a recommendation for Diana Marie Lee, Sweet Livity. From November 2009 through March 2011, Diana Marie Lee led a co-design process to develop a comprehensive Community Capacity Building framework as a key component of Best Start, First 5 LA’s place-based funding approach in 14 Los Angeles County communities. With her guidance and leadership, the inter-departmental team of 15 of program officers, managers and directors designed the framework including our values and principles in implementing capacity building in partnership with the communities, along with four core capacities (engagement, leadership, infrastructure and investment) that are shaping the work as we move forward. In developing the framework, Ms. Lee led us through a process of internally modeling the processes we would ultimately implement in the 14 communities. Diana Marie Lee’s passion for community-based development, along with her vast on-the-ground experience, was not only inspiring, but provided a necessary, solid foundation for our place-based work. The team, agency and Commission couldn’t get enough of Diana Marie Lee. Her description of the work that we were embarking on helped the organization to affirm its move forward with the place-based approach.”

Wellness Coaching Client

“Thank you again for helping me craft a vision, for asking great questions, supporting me with insightful tools, inviting me to connect with your community, and for steering me toward serving with joy.”

Wellness Coaching Client

Woman of Color Service Product: Self-care

Charles R. Price

“I have worked with Diana Marie Lee as colleague and client while Diana was an employee of the National Community Development Institute and later as a board member of the Highlander Research & Education Center. Diana is a brilliant community consultant who has the experience to grasp the nuances and complexities of diverse communities of color and offer valuable recommendations for action based in co-design between consultant and community. Diana is one of the most gifted community-based workers I have had the opportunity to work with and learn from. Diana Lee is truly a precious gem and resource.”

Taij Kumarie Moteelall

“Diana Marie Lee bring years of expertise in organizational development and personal transformation work to everything she does. She is a skilled facilitator and coach who is able to move a people through a deep process of change. She has been an incredible asset to the Standing in Our Power Network. Few people can truly live the values they espouse and seamlessly integrate them into their work. Diana is one of those rare individuals. I am honored and privileged to work with her and look forward to growing our partnership.”

Gloria Davis

“Without Diana Marie Lee’s thoughtfulness, depth of experience, engaging and comfortable style, the Girls Club of Los Angeles (GCLA) would not have been able to bring First 5 LA funds and opportunities into West Athens. Diana facilitated the team members work into an actionable comprehensive winning proposal that was on-target and pinpointed the collaborative spirit in the West Athens community. She made the process seamless with her effectiveness and strong leadership skills.

She led the way with an expertise on proven best practices, research and development, community capacity building and service delivery system improvement. With her insight and keen awareness of the realities facing urban communities, Diana provided realistic strategies for promoting meaningful and lasting change in systems that strengthen the outcomes for young parents and children. She was indispensable and a wonderful balance of theory and practice.”

Rob Hope

“Your (personal) flexibility, creativity, openness and humility aligned well with our organizational values, and ended up being critical to the success of our working relationship. I particularly appreciated your cultural responsiveness, social justice orientation and trauma informed approach.

Our staff felt very comfortable working with you, in part because I think you felt most values and perspective-aligned. You also were aware of and responsive to power and other interpersonal and institutional dynamics that show up in our work and definitely were present in the curriculum development process. Finally, I appreciated what I perceived to be your grounding in wellness, serenity, and dignity. I think it was contagious, and a welcome touchstone in a process that at times was hectic, stressful and emotionally charged.

In short, I really appreciated your work, enjoyed the opportunity to get to know and work with you, and came away a stronger leader as a result of our engagement. And also very importantly, the ultimate product of your work (ie the curriculum) has been a huge step forward for us a program and organization.”

Glenda O’Neal

“I have had the pleasure of working with Diana for many years. We have worked together building the capacity of organizations via grant seeking projects. Diana is a brilliant writer and researcher and is passionate about her work and projects. I highly recommend her services and am confident that built upon her previous endeavors, she will bring much success to Sweet Livity and her clients.”

Russ Finkelstein

“When Clearly Next was seeking coaches in the Bay Area to facilitate local groups seeking to make career transitions I asked friends who they would recommend. A colleague with extensive contacts in the Bay Area quickly recommended Diana as someone who would be a great fit. From the first conversation. I could see that Diana approaches this work with a focus on ensuring that those she serves realize their goals and do so in a way that will allow them to be much more sustainable in the future. This is part of her larger world view of developing people and organizations that can do good work in a way that prioritizes self-care. She consistently impresses me with her thoughtful approaches to organization challenges and dedication to ensuring that each person in her charge is better off for her guidance and support.